Nattens vingar (original 1977; edition 1986)

this book wasn;t anything specail. i mean it's nt the worst book ive read but not the best. i kept thinking something would happen when sadly it didn't.i thought the indian magic was pretty cool though. sand art is really pretty! ( )

This early Cruz Smith novel is a somewhat macabre tale set in the New Mexico desert. Youngman Duran is a Hopi Indian Deputy who is trying to discover the reason for a series of deaths in which the victims appear to have been repeatedly slashed with razor-like cuts. In fact, vampire bats are the culprits, and they also carry the plague bacillus. Local government is attempting a cover-up while a scientist, Hayden Paine is trying to eradicate the bat colony. There is suspense and tension, plenty of background research, and also a love interest, but at this early stage, Cruz Smith’s talents are just beginning to develop. ( )

Well, to begin with, the synopsis is not entirely accurate. The book is not about vampires but vampire bats, and as far as I can tell, the 'entire American Southwest' was not threatened, though it could have been if the story didn't work out. Add to that the mediocre writing style, and what could have been an exciting novel comes up a fizzer. I found Night Wing to be predictable and not overly thrilling. I doubt I'll be seeking out any more of Smith's work. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. It's probably not really that fantastic in terms of it's overall merit, but something about it really appealed to me. Set on a Hopi reservation, the local law enforcement agent finds himself dealing with a bizarre threat - evil, killer BATS! I read it more than once - there was something about the detail here that I found fascinating, and it was scary, too. ( )

Yet another book giving bats a bad rap. A horror tale in the vein of large numbers of flying things run amok, if not stopped by plucky locals and the odd person with a modicum of knowledge. Think more along the lines of The Birds. Much better than the bad movie, being quite competently handled by Cruz Smith. A sheriff and a woman have to stop some very nasty chiroptera before they cause a lot of problems.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2006/12/nightwing-martin-cruz-smith.html ( )